‘Jack Reacher 2’ Reportedly Adds Cobie Smulders to the Cast

2012’s Jack Reacher was only a modest success at the box office, but it had a trick hidden up its sleeve – it was actually a really good movie that people watched after its theatrical run and liked. So Jack Reacher 2 is coming and that’s excellent news for fans of stripped-down, adult-oriented thrillers who never get tired of watching Tom Cruise crash stunt cars for our amusement. It’s also excellent news for fans of Cobie Smulders, who has supposedly joined the cast.

According to a report over at TheWrap, Smulders will play the role of Danika in the film, which will adapt author Lee Child’s Never Go Back. Never Go Back is the 18th book in the Jack Reacher series and One Shot, the source material for the first film, was the 9th, so it looks like the films are cherry-picking novels from the series rather than go in any particular order. And that’s fine. After all, this is a series about a wandering, mystery-solving badass who finds trouble wherever he goes like a ’70s TV character. Each of Reacher’s adventures is pretty much a one-off.

Smulders is known on both the big and small screens, having starred in How I Met Your Mother on CBS and played super-spy Maria Hill in numerous Marvel movies. She’s a more-than-solid actress and a charming, very funny screen presence, which makes her an above-average choice to play second banana to Tom Cruise.

Rosamund Pike brought a respectable toughness to the female lead in the first film and hopefully Smulders will have something serious to chew on in the sequel. Jack Reacher 2 will be directed by Ed Zwick, and hit theaters sometime in 2016.